I am new to this forum and am looking at getting a gravel bike. To date I have been racing mostly on road with a Canyon CF Slx 9.0 from 2014. The frame is a size M and has the dimension as per the attached screenshot. Currently, I am intrigued by the idea of getting a titanium frame. My budget for the entire bike set-up is approx 5.000 USD. My preferred set-up would be Sram Force 1, but I am open for alternatives. Intended use would be occasional gravel race, base riding in the winter and self-supported bike touring. Bike can have a more aggressive / racy position. I have looked into the producers under the following link: https://off.road.cc/content/feature/the-best-titanium-gravel-and-adventure-bikes-on-sale
Do you have any experience / recommend any? Honestly, I find the Moots Rouut 45 most compelling, but it is out of my price range.
Lastly, do you see such a bike advantage of titanium over carbon fibre with regards to durability?
In late 2017 I replaced my alloy gravel bike with a Ti bike but didn't want to spend "Moots" money for my first foray into Ti. I ended up with a Lynskey ProGR and couldn't be happier. I use mine on gravel and remote bikepacking / adventure rides and it is superb. The ride of a Ti bike on gravel / dirt roads over long distances in unrivaled. And I don't cringe when a rock goes pinging off my frame or the occasional misjudgement of a rocky stretch that puts me and the bike down.
I will probably have a custom Ti bike built next year for bikepacking and it will be custom, but there's no need to start with a custom until you see if you like the feel of a Ti bike.
I’m intrigued by TI, but can’t buy one because I can’t test ride one. That is an expensive gamble. There are some that are too stiff, some that are too noodley – who knows what I’ll get and if I like it? Just ‘cause it is TI, doesn’t mean it will be great. Best I can tell, is that it will ride like a good steel bike, but maybe be a little bit lighter (Not a lot) and look cool (in a retro way).
It would be interesting to buy a used one to try out, but most of the ones I see are road bikes with antiquated components. That is one disadvantage of Ti - It can't be a "bike for life" since components change so fast and quickly get outdated and irreplaceable - even more so in the gravel realm.
This is some interesting reading. It says “road” bikes, but these days many of them are gravel bikes:
Certainly Lynskey (Tennessee) looks interesting – and this time of year you can often find amazing deals on them (Nashbar always seemed to have them on sale in the fall).
10 years ago when carbon layup designs are not yet mature, TI was a viable option you save about 200-300g over a steel frame. In 2019, even cheap open mold carbon frame preforms great for 1/2 or 1/3 the price of TI. Also TI frames are prone to weld failures as it is technically difficult to properly weld TI
I never hear of people having frame problems, except occasionally hear of titanium frames cracking. Kinda goes along with involunary's comments.
Durability wise - carbon does not like point loads (i.e. the steel vs carbon fork sword duel), and can scuff and abrade relatively easily. For instance I would never strap a carbon bike to the back of a car like I would with a metal bike. Mountain bikers put tape on their bikes to protect them from those issues.
If that is a concern for you, then metal, especially Ti, is good for you. I'm not sure you can make the argument that it is always the best ride - sometimes it is but probably not always.
Carbon is tough and can take a high load. I had my favorite carbon bike fly off my roof at 80mph once. it destroyed the metal parts (front fork, and rear tire), but the frame was fine. That bike is 20 years old now and the frame is still in one piece.
I think you can make a strong argument for Ti - but its mostly a personal preference thing. Lynskey makes some pretty good designs for instance.
I had a Lynskey GR250. It was a great bike and I loved it. But I rode it about 200 miles on a 3 day trip and I did not like how flexy it felt with all the extra gear on it. So I sold it and got a carbon bike (Salsa Warbird). The Salsa is just as comfortable but does not get that flexy feeling when loaded up with gear.
Good comment about gear loading/bikepacking. Something to consider I suppose; may not be so critical if you're a lighter weight rider and only intending on light bikepacking (those are my plans with the ti bike).
Consider if external cables would be fine. How many extra mounting points you'd like in the frame/fork.
Ran 1x on my bike for a year but then swapped to 2x as I much prefer the smaller gear jumps on the cassette for all-day mixed riding.
I had a Lynskey GR 270 this season and my experience was a bit different. I'm a pretty strong 195 lb rider, and I thought the frame and the fork were too stiff for long gravel rides/races. The geometry and frame quality was really good, though. I traded it in for a Black Mountain Cycles MCD, which has smaller diameter steel tubing and is noticeably more flexible, especially at the head tube and fork, so it delivers a softer ride quality that I prefer. The Lynskey geometry felt more capable on bumpy up and down two track, but the MCD is more fun to pedal.
For ride quality, i.e. stiff vs flexible, tubing diameter equates to ride stiffness, and from what I see, most off the shelf steel and ti frames use oversized tubing and should be pretty stiff. Carbon is hit or miss for ride quality/stiffness depending on layup.
For durability and day to day occurrences like strapping your bike onto a rack, your bike falling over onto a rock, crashing, paint chipping, etc, Ti is the way to go if you can swing it, IMO, because there's less to worry about. That's why I didn't choose carbon. And steel tubing, in general, will dent more easily than ti will - though that's probably not much of a concern with the off the shelf steel gravel bikes out there because they're pretty overbuilt. I've got a custom DeSalvo ti frame on order now - and it'll be much less expensive than an off the shelf over-priced Moots.
Don’t overlook a Moots Mountaineer. With a suspension fork it’s my rough road, singletrack bike. You can run it drop bar or flat bar, 1X or 2X, and up to 2.8 tires.
I have had Davis Carver , carverbikes.com, make me a couple of frames and I am very happy with the results. He also has a new "gravel" bike made by Lynskey, a little less expensive, or his asian supplier in the frame called the "allroad". Mine are all made by the asian supplier and they are first class and cheap to customize. Mike Kelly
My gravel bike build: Litespeed Gravel Ti frame, Chris King headset, ENVE carbon fork, 1x drivechain with Shimano GRX Di2 rear deraillure, 11/42 cassette, Sram Force 42 chainring with carbon cranks, KMC chain, Shimano Ultegra DI2 shifters, SALSA carbon cow chipper handlebars, Bontrager xxx race lite wheel set - DT Swiss hubs, Bontrager GR2 700x40 tires, Bontrager Montose saddle w/carbon rails, Shimano XTR pedals, Lizard Skin bar tape, Revelate frame soft storage. This build is good, rode DK last year, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Tennessee for local rides. 1x is great after adjusting your style. I am a strong proponent of Di2 - the precision and time to shift are excellent. Still experimenting with the gearing range and ratios. I might consider a 40 tooth chainring. Also I am also interested in a carbon wheel set.
Ya don't hear much about them, but Bongrager makes some nice tires. They have quite a range of GR (gravel tires), but if you want to go bigger, some of the XR (mountain) tires are pretty impressive too.
sidewinder wrote: 1x drivechain with Shimano GRX Di2 rear deraillure, 11/42 cassette, Sram Force 42 chainring with carbon cranks, I am a strong proponent of Di2 - the precision and time to shift are excellent. Still experimenting with the gearing range and ratios. I might consider a 40 tooth chainring. Also I am also interested in a carbon wheel set.
Nice build! I too am a big proponent of Di2, have it on a road and gravel bike. On a whim I bought a Moots Mountaineer that wasn’t Di2 compatible, ie no ports 🙁 . I thought I could get away with an AXS Eagle but because the largest chainring on that frame is a 32T. Way too low, imho. I’m back to a 2X XT drivetrain on a flat bar (my choice). Sure wish there was a way to port Di2 cables with a titanium frame that’s not drilled for it.
How does the SRAM Force chain ring play with the Shimano cassette & chain? I know the manufacturers are getting pretty picky with their tooth profiles and chainline reqmts.
My LBS recommended the KMC chain. The KMC E101 Gold is designed to be compatible with both Shimano and SRAM. The Shimano GRX rear deraillure is clutched, which pretty much eliminates chain slapping. On a side note, the 1x setup freed up the lefthand shifter , so I added a Shimano Di2 Wireless Unit. This allows me to use the left hand shifters to control my Garmin. I think it would be cool if it were possible to talk to my GoPro. Start or Stop recording with a shifter lever.
mike_kelly wrote:I have had Davis Carver , carverbikes.com, make me a couple of frames and I am very happy with the results. He also has a new "gravel" bike made by Lynskey, a little less expensive, or his asian supplier in the frame called the "allroad". Mine are all made by the asian supplier and they are first class and cheap to customize. Mike Kelly
4.3 pounds in medium size, at that weight, why not just go steel, the ride quality will be better
